


Biological Forcing and the Genetics of Austronesian Werewolves; Or Why Island Wolf is so Chill

by EggEmperor



Series: The Life and Times of a Spastic Devil [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU-Past Event(s), Angst, Anthropological Theory and Science presented - possibly badly - by a Molecular-biologist author, Anthropology, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Cut Content, Danny Is Chill AF, Danny Mahealani is Part of the Pack, Existential Horror - Maybe, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, He is a Lawyer after-all, Island Wolves are just Chill, Light Angst, M/M, Peter Says No Problem, Peter is a well-read know-it-all, Potential Out-of-Character-Moments, Pre-Slash, Protective Derek, Science, So Chill Derek is Worried, Theories and Hypothesis, Werewolf Danny Mahealani, fear and worry, hints of Sterek, pre-Sterek - Freeform, some horror, wild theories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 18:29:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20086795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EggEmperor/pseuds/EggEmperor
Summary: In the middle of the Coven assault on Beacon Hills Danny Mahealani is crushed and impaled by falling concrete and rebar, a sobbing Jackson begs Derek to turn his friend to save his life - and Jackson never begs for anything - so Derek does.Then as the next Full Moon draws near, and Danny's bizarre behavior comes to the fore, Derek worries and revisits the childhood memory of a bite gone bad, his fears for the future of his betas and his decision to turn a group of rag-tag teens.Later, it seems his worries were unfounded, Danny is a very Good Boy...too good, and that's worrying in and of itself. And as to the reason, Peter seems to know, but getting a straight answer from a man fond of diatribes is going to be like herding cats.And Danny finds out that some aspects of being a Werewolf aren't exactly pleasant, in fact they're downright irritating! *Scratches*





	Biological Forcing and the Genetics of Austronesian Werewolves; Or Why Island Wolf is so Chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Full Moon approaches, Derek Wangsts severely over Danny's abnormal - or rather too normal - behavior and the boy's impending transformation; his childhood memories of a transformation gone bad, and his deep-seated worries about his actions and whether he did right by his "pups".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note this first part got a little horror-y with Derek's depressing introspection. I apologize for the tonal whiplash and potential out of character moments, the rest of the story is lighter in tone.

**Chapter 1:**

_**A Memory of A Bad Moon**  
_

_\- The World that We See,_

_Is the One that We Know;_

_That the Light of the Sun,_

_Is Permitted to Show._

_  
The Light Bathes All,_

_A Gleaming Vision,_

_That Drives away Fear, Apprehension;_

_Suspicion._

_  
And Yet:_

_The Setting Sun Ends the Day,  
_

_And Forth Brings the Night,_

_And Soon to Rise, The Full Moon,_

_Which Shines its Eldritch Light._

_  
An Eerie, Gossamer, Diaphanous thing,_

_That grants the Darkness Might_

_To Bring forth every hideous Dream,_

_The Sun, would otherwise Smite._

_  
So Unlike; the Light of Day which banishes Fear away,_

_The Moon's Stare raises Shadows and Bids them Dance, _

_To dark, forbidding, happenstance._

_  
Is It movement that you Spy?_

_Out of the Corner of your Eye?_

_A Trick of the Light, that ... Shadowy Thing?_

_That the Moon wrought to Bring?_

_Or else is there, Something ... There?_

_Waiting to Catch you Unaware? _

_Is It now Behind You?_

_Or is It, Inside You?_

_Is It in your Mind, your Soul,_

_Feeding your fears Untold?_

_Or is It, really, Really, There?_

_Hiding beneath the Creaking Stair?_

_Or does it really matter?_

_  
Monster outside or Beast-Within,_

_Both are foe to Friend and Kin,_

_And so to you I say,_

_Beware,_

_The Nights of the Moon,_

_And the Shadows they Bare! -  
_

_Lead in from The Devil is a Spaz:_

Derek learning to control his anger and work through his emotional baggage, probably helped Danny adapt to his new life better, though the Hawaiian wolf was so ridiculously nice and well behaved that Derek couldn't imagine a world where he had issues.

  
In all seriousness, his fifth personal beta was so laid back that Derek was genuinely concerned for a while. Though from experience he knew that things could be a lot worse.  
**_  
_**

* * *

**_  
Thursday, August 23rd, 2012_ **

In the week that was to be the run up to the Full Moon, Derek and Peter had begun to explain to Danny what would happen, that while he was certain to become a id driven animal on that specific night - and every full moon after until found an anchor for control - during the days before, as the time got closer he would find himself angrier, more aggressive, even potentially violent for no real reason.

  
That, he would be dangerous, his temper might flare and that while his strength and power weren't anywhere near what they would be after his first transformation, he still was more than strong enough to cause serious damage should he lose his temper and attack someone.

  
They suggested he not go to school after the 28th, taking off Wednesday and Thursday with Jackson before enduring the Full Moon on Friday in the partially reconstructed Hale House basement.

  
Those few conversations were the first time that Derek had seen his newest beta scared, or at least very uneasy, he didn't show it outwardly, but he was smelling like a cocktail of anxiety, concern, worry and general alarm.

* * *

  
**_Thursday, August 30th, 2012 _ **

  
Derek understood, more than understood, he didn't once long ago, but he understood after his uncle Peter came to him one evening long ago.

  
After his uncle explained once when he still young and bright and the fire hadn't scorched both their souls, explained to him the trials of an older human born cousin who decided to take the bite and join the pack in full.

  
Derek didn't understand then, couldn't, why was Uncle Peter so somber? This was different yes, he got that, but it was to be celebrated right?

  
Peter said that this was both truth and yet his own opinion, and then shook his head, "No, not for me Derek, I'm not celebrating."

  
Peter explained to him what was to come, how this would be different than his own Moon or that of his Sisters' and other cousins, of the born wolves, how something would change, and not change back.

  
"And no Derek I don't mean the frailty of a normal human."

  
He explained the changes, the darkness, the fear, the war would soon be going on in the young man's head, the war that he would inevitably lose. He told his dear nephew, that all the adults were preparing the children for what was to come in just over a week, for the impact of alteration of someone they intimately knew and loved.

  
He asked his uncle why he was comforting him, why comforting the children, shouldn't they be comforting the man who was to change?

  
"That's the beauty and the horror of it kiddo, when all is said and done, he won't feel any different, won't know that anything has changed, to him he will be as he always was and he won't know differently, it's us Derek, us, the ones left behind that will see the change, know it, understand it, feel it, be wounded by it. It's not death, not truly even close, but nephew I think the comparison is still apt, 'The Dead do not mourn Themselves,' no Derek, it is us who will mourn after this Moon."

  
That night and many nights after were filled with nightmares born of what his favorite uncle had told him, of the horrors that Evan was facing and the ones that had yet to come, and after, after they were filled with the sadness, as his uncles words rung true.

  
The born wolves didn't change, not like that, the bitten though, when they lost themselves to their wolves, they lost everything and when they found themselves, dragged themselves back up from the depths of the primal beast, not everything they lost was returned.

  
His cousin wasn't the same after the bite, and after his first Moon he had changed even more, some of what the wolf had taken during the Moon, wasn't given back.

  
He wept then for kind, sweet and joyful Evan, wept for the stoic, cold and vicious Evan too, and when three years later his own naivete and ignorance destroyed his whole world, he wept for them as he wept for all the others.

  
And now years later, every year on that day, the day he cost his old Pack everything, the day on which he runs through the forest and weeps for his family, for all they has lost by his own hand, he sobs, he sobs for Evan, wails in grief, that he had so much taken, so much torn away, and all for nothing, because he died, died young, died younger, than Derek is now.

  
Derek, the alpha of the Hale Pack that was never meant to be, one of the only two survivors, is now older than his cousin was when he experienced his "second" death.

  
And Derek, Derek even weeps and cries for himself, even though he shouldn't even though he's to blame for it all, still he cries because he, himself is still so young.

  
He's a still a child really, there are people his age still in college, kids, still kids to their parents, picking out their first apartments, their first jobs, agonizing over student loans. He weeps for how young in body he is and how old and withered in mind.

  
He cries himself into a restless sleep, one unlikely to last.

* * *

  
**_Friday, August 31st, 2012_ **

Waking with a start from a nebulous nightmare of blood and gnashing fangs, Derek curses his subconscious, and his inability to put aside his fears now that his anger was slowly being banished by "therapy".  
  
  
It was a good thing, everyone said, to let go, to stop using his anger as his anchor, to stop letting it control him as much - if not more than he tried to control it.

  
Deaton told him time and again - after the apologies and sorry I tried to kill you were exchanged - that it was unhealthy if not borderline dangerous to anchor himself with rage.

  
And after much pestering - from the entire pack and a certain angelic menace - he gave in and started to see Deaton's sister for semi-regular discussions about getting over his anger, his guilt and the whole suite of trauma that his life had been.  
  
  
It helped; during his waking hours Derek felt lighter, more composed, more "human" and put together than he could ever remember being, he was almost enjoying life and his time with his betas, his responsibility as an alpha felt like more of a privilege or a job rather than an outright burden. He was well not exactly happy per say, but he was getting there.

  
That wasn't to say there weren't issues. Letting go of his anger, his rage, let everything else come in, sadness, guilt, fear, the nightmares that his boiling blood and fierce wolf kept at bay were now plaguing him constantly, he was recognizing who he was, that he was a young man, victimized and abused, harmed by a series of mistakes and tragedies that marred his young life.

  
He probably had PTSD - Morell said she wasn't experienced enough or really licensed to diagnosed it as such, but that he fit all of the symptomology and history to a T - certainly had anger issues, and likely had some sort of anxiety disorder specifically centered around fear of abandonment - which again Deaton's sister said she couldn't actually diagnose - and some depression.  
  
  
As a consequence he ended up ordering a literal mountain of self help and psychology books looking for things that could help - the fact that most of the psychology books about what he might have recommended therapy and medication; and the fact that he couldn't see an actual licensed psychologist or psychiatrist and that being a werewolf most if not all of the drugs that might be prescribed alongside therapy wouldn't have any effect was a major obstacle.  
  
  
In the end after all that reading he came to the conclusion that yeah, he was screwed up, really screwed up and he would be for life, he could learn to cope and he could get better but these wounds would never actually go away. He also came to the conclusion that he potentially screw up his betas for life - though that maybe have been the paranoia and anxiety talking.

* * *

  
Born wolves didn't have such a titanic control problem as bitten ones, Derek was pretty lucid for his first Full Moon, that wasn't to say there wasn't an abnormal sway or increased aggression, he just could handle it better.

  
With a born like himself, there wasn't such a separation between the wolf and the man, his wolf, his other half was a constant companion, instinct given its own sort of pseudo-consciousness, processor of a constant feed of information that Derek didn't have to analyze consciously to just know and understand, but it was part of Derek and while he sometimes anthropomorphized it into a truly separate existence, that was more the romanticism of werewolf culture.

  
Bitten wolves, though, the wolf is almost separate, it's foreign an invader, a piece suddenly shoved into a full puzzle. He has more than once placed thought to what his uncle spoke of for what it must feel like for his betas, what his cousin felt, to the mixture of horror and primal pleasure that griped them, especially on that first Moon, and how alien, scary and even violating that experience must have been.

  
Every human is a consciousness, a being "bound" in a body, and while we mostly consider our bodies ours and subject of our dominion and demands, there are times when the body imposes its "own will" upon us.

  
As a being, a consciousness, a thing, one of the greatest things, most sacred things we treasure about our existence is agency, free-will, within the laws of nature and man, a person can do anything they want, they control themselves and their destiny, and the loss of that of agency, the ability to decide and do is a profound fear, and to take it away from another a heinous crime.

  
To have your own body, your own mind, take your agency away from your feeling, doing self, must be absolutely terrifying, and that is for anyone - from nightmares, sleep paralysis, cancer - loss of control is abominable.

  
And yet it's worse for a werewolf on their first moon, so much worse, because the screaming part that cries for its agency, it's power, it's will, is not just screaming for its control, it's screaming for what it fears, what it knows will happen when it vanishes.

  
It's not just loss of control, it's giving up control to something "monstrous" something that will rip that power from the sobbing Super Ego and if given the chance do horrible, animalistic, perhaps even murderous things with it.

  
And it gets even worse, because that thing, that thing that rips control from you, the thing you fear?

  
It too is you, the Id. It whispers, then yells and pulls, it tells you how good it will feel to give in to change, to go feral, to become animal and be unbound by thought or reason; instinct if that your only chain.

  
It offers freedom too, of a sort at least, a different freedom, perhaps one that isn't true agency… Though is one truly agentless during the frenzy? Or do the Ego and Id just not remember what they do when they sweep the Super Ego aside and the Ego takes the plunge into the Id?

  
If you don't remember having control, having choice, agency, does that mean you didn't? Or did you do all of that, of your own free will and just the part of you that is awake not remember?

  
And that's even more the horror, the fact that you give in, the Ego, yourself at the core is being pulled in a war, the half grabbed by the frantic Super Ego, is screaming along with in terror; the half grabbed by the Id, is laughing in depraved lust at how good it's going to feel when something slips and you let go.

  
That's what Evan experienced, that's what his beta's may have experienced, what he hopes they haven't and if they have, will never experience again.

* * *

  
He tries, tries not to think about it, about how he might have taken something from his pups, even when he was giving them salvation, an offer which they willingly took.

  
And in his darkest moments, when he's most worried, most fearful that he's truly what the Argents once said he was, a monster that preys on the vulnerable and steals their humanity, he comforts himself with his own thoughts, what he has seen with his own eyes, that which is different and same.

  
His betas, they all changed, all four got fitter, healthier, musclier, the three boys especially, though Erica now looks like a professional woman boxer, and hits like one too.

  
Her epilepsy, her seizures that would have certainly one day killed her vanished, and she was able to step up to the plate and take charge of her life, now she was no longer frail, she was no longer that girl with the creepy disease that everyone avoided, she had friends, the pack and others, she has Boyd and she had her healthy life, a good long one if Derek had anything to say about it.

  
Isaac, was stronger now, confident, he knows he can defend himself, and his principal abuser, is God willing rotting in Hell - he should ask Stiles to check on that. He has friends too now and a father or well more a big brother in Derek, who despite his own admitted emotional constipation is able to get across that he loves and cares for the curly haired brat.

  
Jackson, Jackson if anything was opposite in many ways, he didn't gain confidence - something he already had too much of - but humility, respect for others and an understanding that others existed outside himself.

  
He may have been given the world on a silver platter by his parents, but he was not really given the one thing he truly craved from them, their love. Maybe it's just the people the Whittemores were, maybe it was because he was adopted and done so out of obligation of a promise to a dying woman, but regardless, thought they gave him a house, they didn't really give him a home, they give him parents, but not a family.

  
But the pack has changed that, friends a family, Jackson now gets that people care about him and has learned - begrudgingly - to care about them in turn, and has actually become a better person with the pack and new friends to give him guidance.

  
Boyd, the sad, drifting loner, a shadow unseen in the background, now takes more time for himself, and actually ventures to put himself in the spotlight on occasion, he's gone in the eyes of his peers from the weird quiet guy to the stoic and thoughtful young man who speaks when it really matters and will always have your back. Now Boyd was quiet, and soft spoken because it was just his nature, and he spoke up when he wanted to, he wasn't the frozen young man, bound in silence by awkwardness and a fear of rejection, the same young man so quiet and unnoticed that no one knew that he was contemplating ending it all - after all who would notice or care right? - was now a calm, vigilant and warm presence to the many who now called him friend.

  
Scott was on Peter and while he definitely went more negative for a while, his infatuation to the point of near lunacy – he grimaced at the pun – with Allison having resulted in a lot of terrible things, perhaps most vividly exemplified in his forcing Derek to turn Gerard Argent and more frequently in his sudden and often catastrophic disregard of Stiles, his so called brother; that slow motion train wreck was something that everyone involved saw, it was quite visible in a grisly way the previously rock solid relationship decayed.

  
Still the boy has gotten better, admitted his mistakes even, and has gone out of his way to patch things up with the Archangel, Stiles in turn has been extraordinarily patient with his friend and completely forgiven him - "I accuse, I don't condemn," the lanky teen quipped.

  
All in all, he acknowledges that his betas have changed, drastically in some cases, but ninety-five percent of the time, it's been good a positive change, it was always something bad, painful or wrong that was taken away.

  
Not only are they good wolves, but they're better people for it.

  
His cousin, Evan, was completely different to them, every alteration was negative, the old Evan was kind, friendly and loving, making his little cousins happy brightened his entire day. The new Evan on the other hand was frankly, mean, antagonistic and even cruel - the old one hated fighting, the new one loved it - he was almost a sadist in some ways and the children collectively learned rather quickly to give him a wide berth and scram whenever he smiled.

  
After a few more Moons the man got somewhat better - Talia would have probably expelled him had he continued on as he was for much longer - but he was still cold, and a jerk till the day he died with most of their family in the fire.

  
The dichotomy between Evan and his own pups is striking, and he can't help but remember something his father once said and think that maybe that was the key to it all.

* * *

  
~_**Hale Manor Circa 1995~**_

  
As a young boy of eight or so he had walked into his father's study and asked his dad point blank why he was still a normal, breakable, weak human and not a werewolf like mom or Derek himself.

  
His father had stopped what he was working on, hopped over his desk and picked his son up, swinging him through the air - and triggering several giggles - before he sat down in his favorite leather chair, putting his son on his lap and stared down at his boy with warm hazel eyes, the same that Derek had inherited.

  
"Derek, son, there's lots of things in this world that you don't know, that's okay, you're young and you will learn in time. One of those things is that there are different kinds of strength kiddo, different kinds of power, different purposes for all the people in this world, be they human, werewolf and or something else."

  
"I may not be able to lift a car like your mom, hear lies in heart beats like you and your sisters or run thirty miles an hour nonstop, I can get sick, and I'm much more easily hurt but there are other things I can do that no one else can."

  
"I'm not affected by mountain ash, and while wolfsbane is still quite poisonous to a normal human, it will take a lot more of it, a lot longer time to make me sick than it does a wolf, like you or mom."

  
"I can go and represent the pack in places where wolves are not allowed, or if I'm careful get around unknown to other wolves who would sense another werewolf from miles away."

  
"I can sit you here on my lap, and teach you, I can be your father, I can be a shoulder for you mother to cry on when the duty of an alpha becomes just a little too much."

  
"I can keep secrets even from Talia, I can be an objective anchor and confidant for your mother, I can defy her when I think she's being too bull headed and tell her that she's wrong, tell her she's being an idiot and blaming herself or tell her she's being too harsh."

  
"No wolf in this pack can do that for her, be there for her in that way, in many ways, though I am human, I'm your mother's equal, truly the only power she has over me is my lover for her, and she cherishes that, loves that I can be her equal in those ways where a wolf would have no choice but to hold their tongue, defer and bow."

  
"We all have our purpose of being in this life, your mother offered me the bite after Laura was born and again after you were. Both times I said no. Some people are meant to be werewolves, like you and your mother, but some, like me are not, I'm meant to be human and I'm thankful every day that I had the strength to know that, and to refuse the power your mother offered me. My purpose son, is to be a father to you and your sisters, to be your mother's human husband and a proud human member of the Hale pack."

* * *

**  
_Friday, August 31st, 2012_ **

  
Some are meant to be wolves, some are meant to be human, he knows that it was probably really just his father's way of explaining his choices and his decision, but maybe he unintentionally touched upon some deeper truth or law, or maybe he knew something deep down, and knew it to be true, and maybe not just to himself but to others, his father wasn't any normal man, you couldn't be if you were human and ran with wolves, he was wise beyond his years.

  
So maybe, maybe his pups, his betas, these kids who took the bite and made it a gift, who grew through it and changed for the better, maybe they were meant to be wolves, while Evan...

  
Evan was not, he was meant to be human, like Derek's father, but he didn't understand that, or didn't accept it and the bite instead became a curse, it took, not gave, he withered, rotted, he changed for the worse.

  
He doesn't ask the returned and now sane Peter about this, doesn't want to have his bubble, this self-whispered net of assurance and safety on the state of his pups, popped.

  
If it's true then all is well, if not then he prefers the fantasy.

  
He doesn't want another night like that one a decade ago, when Peter words created nightmares, that for the first time made Derek realize why so many in the world would call him a monster.

  
And yet, it makes no sense, he's sure there were several bitten wolves in the Hale pack, one of his Uncles, his mother and Peter's sister's husband, he was bitten, and fine, well until he died in the fire. So why did Peter come to him, why did the adults...

  
Maybe...

  
Maybe did Peter know?

  
His thoughts suddenly exploded, unbidden to the forefront of his mind.

  
Did his mom, the other adults, did they know?

  
Was that why they were sad? Why they warned the children?

  
Did they know that the bite would go wrong, that it would strip the good away and that Evan would be worse for it?

  
Did they know he was one of the ones that was supposed to be human?

  
Was that why Evan argued with his father so fiercely a few days before Peter came to him?

  
If they knew, then why had his mother given Evan the bite? If they thought it would strip his goodness - humanity - away..."Enough," he growls, glancing at the clock; it glares back neon green, declaring it 3:14 in the morning.

  
He needs to sleep; the Full Moon and Danny's first shift is tonight. He has to be well rested, he can't just sit here driving himself insane over the ghosts, psycho-babble and what ifs.

  
Danny will be fine, he wasn't meant to die on that sidewalk, impaled by rotting steel and stone, he was meant to be a wolf, and he's really done so well, too well, too human, but his cousin was going feral ten days out, which means that Danny is completely different.

  
Danny isn't going to end up like Evan, just like Isaac, Boyd, Erica and Jackson didn't, just like Scott didn't.

  
"He will be fine," and, he keeps privately to his thoughts, if he isn't, if something does go wrong, they have an ace in the hole this time.

  
He smiles, they literally have the Devil himself on their side.

  
If worse comes to worst, Stiles can fix it, will fix it if Derek asks him too. Stiles won't refuse, though Derek will feel terrible for asking.

  
He knows that despite the brave unflappable front the Archangel puts up, he's still very reticent to using his powers, especially on any serious scale.

  
Stiles is utterly terrified that if he starts using his powers freely, he'll become so consumed by his power that he'll become the very Devil that is reviled in all the World's Holy Books.

  
Which is another thing too; again despite the flippant and jocular way he discusses it, Derek can tell the teen - and yes Four_teen_ billion is still technically a _teen_ \- is wholly uncomfortable with his identity and who he is, even if he rationally knows, though his own memories no less, that most of the shit that humanity says about him or blames him for either never happened or has been twisted around to make him look bad.

  
Stiles "true self" has been free for nearly three weeks now, and he has yet to turn the World to ash, bring about the Apocalypse or invoke Hell on Earth.

  
Derek has long accepted that the "Pre-Human experience" Archangel Lucifer was just Stiles without his familiar name; a big-hearted, sarcasm fueled, mischievous, spastic idiot with no filter, a motor mouth set to quasi-permanent verbal diarrhea, and not enough sense to know when to hold his tongue or when he was taking a prank too far.

  
In other words, Stiles is Stiles is Stiles and he always has been, now if only they could convince Stiles of that.

  
Derek fell asleep, mind swirling with worries and werewolves, assurances, angels and light and his last conscious thought was on a mental image of Stiles and how the stories at least got one thing right, Stiles was beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> Two cut sections from TDIAS. I realized I wanted to bring Danny into the Fold, so I had him get injured during the Coven's attack, Jackson begs Derek to turn his friend to save his life - and Jackson never begs for anything - so Derek does. It was originally just a short blurb. Then I ended up expanding on Danny's part in the pack, his first Full Moon, and why he's such a Chill wolf. Then it got away from me, and I further let it blow up by expanding on the first scene. Next thing I know it's making up two-thirds of TDIAS, which ostensibly is supposed to be about Stiles. So, I just decided to make a series.


End file.
